London Journal; First Briton in Space, but Barely in Fame's Orbit

By WILLIAM E. SCHMIDT,

Published: May 25, 1991

Correction Appended

LONDON, May 24—
When Helen Sharman of Sheffield roared into space atop a Soviet rocketship last Saturday, The Observer of London bannered the moment the next day with a front-page headline that read, "Women From Mars Is First Briton in Space."

The reference to Mars, however, had nothing to do with Miss Sharman's new life in outer space. Rather, The Observer, like other British papers, has been playing in recent months on Miss Sharman's former employment at the Mars candy bar factory outside London.

Miss Sharman, a 27-year-old chemist, was working there in 1989 when she answered an advertisement that read, "Astronauts wanted -- no experience necessary." She got the job by beating out 13,000 other people who also wanted a seat on the first British-Soviet space mission, which was organized by the Soviet Government and a private consortium hoping to lure commerical sponsors.

Miss Sharman, who rode into space alongside two Soviet astronauts, is to return to Earth on Sunday, after an eight-day mission in which her schedule called for performing several scientific experiments, as well as fulfilling a sponsor's request by placing what is described as the first floral delivery order from outer space. No Celebrity Orbit

Considering that she is the first from her nation to carry the British flag, and a portait of the Queen, into outer space, Miss Sharman has not been propelled into the highest orbits of British celebrity.

While Sir Rodric Braithwaite, the British Ambassador in Moscow, joined Miss Sharman's parents, John and Lyndis Sharman, in watching the launching from the Soviet space center in Baikonur, in Central Asia, the story made the front pages of only half the newspapers published in London, and television coverage has been spotty.

Either space travel is no big deal anymore, or it is tough to get excited about becoming the 22d nation to have one of its own in orbit. In the 30 years since Yuri A. Gagarin of the Soviet Union and then Alan B. Shepherd Jr. of the United States became the first humans in space, astronauts from Poland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and even Afghanistan, among others, have been there before Britain, riding atop American or Soviet rockets.

If a scientist whose specialty involved the chemical properties of chocolate might seem an odd choice for an astronaut, friends and former teachers in Sheffield, an industrial town in northern England, say they are not surprised that Miss Sharman was picked for the space mission.

In an interview, Ken Cook, the headmaster at the Meadowhead Comprehensive School and one of Miss Sharman's instructors when she was a student there from 1974 to 1981, described her as a "very determined, very bright young woman," with interests in both music and science. Something of a Trailbreaker

At the time, he said, she was the only woman enrolled in the school's top mathematics, physics and chemistry classes. "Back then, the expectations for girls were different, and I think it took some courage and determination for her to prevail, as she did, in the sciences," Mr. Cook said. "She was determined to succeed in areas that were not traditional."

That sense of resolution -- coupled with a fine sense of tact -- served her well on Thursday, when Anatoly Artsebarsky, the Soviet flight commander, said at a news conference beamed back to Earth that he would rather fly with men, because space flight is "not a woman's work." Miss Sharman simply replied: "We are getting on very well. There have been no arguments so far."

In interviews before the launching, Miss Sharman sought to play down any apprehension over the mission. When British reporters asked if she was frightened, she replied sternly: "I'm not going into infinity. I'm going into lower Earth orbit."

To prepare for the flight, she has had to undergo 14 months of rigorous training in the Soviet Union, including intensive Russian language instruction that, among other things, enabled her to converse by radio on Monday with President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Mr. Cook said Miss Sharman's spaceflight had made her far and away the most famous graduate of the Sheffield school, eclipsing the fame of one of her own classmates, Fraser Digby, a soccer player. Family Interest in Science

Friends say she inherited her interest in science from her parents. Mr. Sharman was trained as a physicist, although he is now the assistant principal at Sheffield College, a vocational school. Mrs. Sharman is a nurse.

"I think she clearly took her lead from her dad," said Ron Eyley, an instructor at the college and a longtime friend of the family. "But she had an interest in a lot of things -- lanugages, athletics, whatever. She even used to drive her own motorcycle."

After graduating from university with a degree in chemistry, she was hired as a research scientist and confectionary specialist at the candy factory, which is operated by the American company Mars Inc.

Despite widespread public admiration for Miss Sharman, the space mission has been the object of some criticism in recent weeks, amid disclosures that a lack of commerical sponsors for the trip has forced the main Soviet backer, the Narodny Bank, to cut costs by eliminating some of the scientific experiments that Miss Sharman intended to carry out.

"I know there are people who now say it's not like a Briton going into space for her country, but rather a case where she is just a passenger on board a Russian spacecraft," Mr. Eyley said. "Well, that's wrong. What she is doing is something that ought not to go unmarked in either Sheffield or Britain. We are all very proud of her."

Photo: Helen Sharman, a British chemist, was chosen over 13,000 other applicants to become the first Briton in space. She is shown aboard a Soviet spacecraft last week in the first British-Soviet space mission as she leaned in weightlessness to perform a task. (Soviet Television via Reuters) Table: "Women on Space Missions" lists women from United States Soviet Union, and Britain who participated in space missions.

Correction: May 31, 1991, Friday A chart on Saturday listing women who have flown on space missions, with an article about the first Briton in space, omitted an American astronaut. She is Ellen Baker, who flew on the space shuttle in October 1989.